


The Cat's Meow

by lar_laughs



Category: Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2011-07-27
Updated: 2011-07-27
Packaged: 2017-10-21 20:07:44
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,018
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/229240
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/lar_laughs/pseuds/lar_laughs
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>This was written long before Book 7 came out and we didn't know what the Second War would look like.  Imagine a field tent in the middle of a forest.  That's where this came from.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Cat's Meow

**Author's Note:**

> Prompts used: Ron/Hermione, the color red (and not his hair), some type of meal, what each smells in their love potion

Ron scrubbed at the brown stains on his hands. No matter how much he tried to get rid of them, he couldn't seem to go the bits around his fingernails or in the webbing between his fingers. If he hadn't been so tired he might have tried harder to get rid of the blood. As it was, he had more important things to think about.

"Just give me an extra helping of vegetables, Megan. You've cooked them until they look like sludge so I can't imagine anyone is jumping to get some of your extra special squash."

The short girl stood to her full height and lifted her wooden spoon threateningly. "Say that again, Ron Weasley, and try to put in a few nicer words. I didn't ask for kitchen duty and I certainly didn't ask to be responsible for making meals out of virtually nothing with only the bare necessities."

"I'm sorry, Miss Jones. Would it be too much ask for an extra helping of those scrumptious looking vegetables for my... my..." He couldn't say it. Not even to one of the girls that Hermione talked to on a semi-regular basis. His inability to say the words were behind this strange need for an extra serving of vegetables. In these difficult times, presents had to be creative and simple.

"Well, tell your-your that she needs to make sure that her potions are cleared out of the kitchen before I start breakfast or someone is going to hear about it and I won't be polite this time."

Ron nodded his thanks and lifted up the plates. Getting somewhere quiet always required passing through an obstacle course of legs and arms, snide comments and snores. There weren't many quiet corners in this cramped safe house but Hermione was always able to find somewhere that she could open a book and loose herself for a few precious moments. His only challenge was finding her each time because it was rarely the same place twice in a row.

He didn't find her on the cot in the room she was sharing with fifteen other girls, the back steps near the small garden or the end of the hall where the doors were always locked and didn't lead anythere even if opened. A few more wrong turns and he gave it one more go before returning back to the kitchen to get new plates with hotter food. The last place he looked was the first one he should have tried.

"Whatcha reading?"

Hermione took the plate that he handed her but it was clear that her mind was elsewhere as she began eating without paying attention to what she was choosing. He'd put some of the well-done meat on her plate only so that he could save her from having to eating it like the gentlement he was. Or at least that he was trying to be these days. It made his mum happy to see him thinking of someone other than himself for once.

"Just an old book I found at the bottom of one of my boxes. I was going through them earlier looking for some notes I'd made on an invisibility serum. You remember the one? We talked about using it our third year."

"We did? I've told you that I don't remember much of the time we were at school. Not that I didn't enjoy it," he said a bit facetiously, "but it wasn't exactly the best time of my life."

It was on the tip of her tongue to ask him when exactly he considered his best time but he could see her mentally swallow the scathing question. He was trying to be a nicer person and Hermione was attempting to be less of a know-it-all. So far, she was doing better at this than he was.

"We did. I might not have made a big deal because of the invisibility cloak but I think I can use these notes to come up with a working recipe. Otherwise, we're starting with nothing and I don't have the time for that kind of research."

Her forehead was furrowed and Ron had to mentally restrain himself from leaning over and kissing the wrinkles. She hated when he did things like that but he'd discovered that her intense frowns were a turn on. The one thing he was good at was relieving her stress.

He didn't hide his look fast enough and she narrowed her eyes. "Don't even start with that right now, Ron. The way you act, no one would ever know think there was a war on."

"Right now, there doesn't have to be. Besides, you smell like cinnamon."

Hermione groaned but it wasn't the sort of sound he wanted her to make when he was this close to putting up a privacy shield so they could have a moment or two together. He preferred when she made that sort of sound while saying his name over and over.

"I knew better than to get into the spices today. Seriously, Ron, you act like a horny little boy when you get around cinnamon or nutmeg. Thanksgiving must be a trial for you."

As her hand fluttered against his chest, he took hold of it and held it to his face, breathing in the scent of her as he kissed her palm. "What can I say? It's the main ingredient in any good love potion."

"Good for you," she scoffed but he could see her smile easing as he continued to his carress of her hand. "Not good for anyone else that I know. Maybe I should experiment with your brothers and see if they are equally turned on by smells that come from the kitchen."

"You do and I'll go get a cutting of catnip this instant. I happened to see some around the corner near the well the other day. Don't make me use it."

Her blush was making her skin warm as he leaned in and began kissing the freckles along side her jaw. He wasn't positive but it sounded like she might have been purring.


End file.
